Books etc.

THE RING OF TRUTH With Philip Morrison. Six-part weekly television series premiering October 20, 1987 on Public Broadcasting Service stations. Produced by Public Broadcasting Associates. A major government researcher once complained that his bosses used his scientific findings the way a drunk uses a lamppost: for support rather than illumination. The new PBS science series, The Ring of Truth, prepared as “an inside look at how science knows what it knows,” similarly seems to be us

Darkness at Night: A Riddle of the Universe. Edward Harrison. Harvard University Press: October 30, 264 pp, $25. Explores the phenomenon of darkness in the night sky by tracing answers and theories that in the past have proven wrong, looking at the structure and age of the universe, and examining the nature of light. BIOCHEMISTRY General Principles of BIochemistry of the Elements. Volume 7. Eilchiro Ochiai. Plenum Publishing: October, 450 pp, $79.50. Discusses global aspects of the biochemis

A STRATEGY FOR SPACE BIOLOGY AND MEDICAL SCIENCE For the 1980s and 1990s. Committee on Space Biology and Medicine, Space Science Board, Commission on physical Sciences, Mathematics and Resources, National Research Council. National Academy Press, Washington, DC, 1987. 196 pp. This report, which represents the collective thinking of some 60 scientists, was developed over the course of two and a half years in series of meetings of the Space Science Board’s Committee on Space Biology and

CONTROLLING LIFE Jacques Loeb and the Engineering Ideal in Biology. Philip J. Pauly. Oxford University Press, New York, 1987. 252 pp. $24.95. Few scientists today would consider modeling their professional development on the life of Jacques Loeb (1859-1924). Despite considerable accomplishments, Loeb felt embattled for most of his career. As a German Jew, he was alienated from American academic and social circles, and on several occasions his religion served to limit and even deny him prof

MACHINES AND INTELLIGENCE A Critique of Arguments Against the Possibility of Artificial Intelligence. Stuart Goldkind. Greenwood Press. Westport, CT, 1987. 138 pp. $29.95. MAN-MADE MINDS The Promise of Artificial Intelligence. M. Mitchell Waidrop. Walker and Company, New York, 1987. 288 pp. $22.95 HB, $14.95 PB. After 30 years, investigators and critics of artificial intelligence (AT) continue to differ in their definitions of the domain and the fundamental claim that AI is or is not possib

RESEARCH APPLICATIONS OF LASERS Science. August 7, 1987. Vol. 237. Pages 605-625. American Association for the Advancement of Science, Washington, DC. While laser scientists are busy worrying about femtosecond pulses, squeezed states and free electrons, lasers developed in the 1960s and ‘70s are finding their place in the research laboratory. Three scientific disciplines—geophysics, atomic physics and chemical physics—are highlighted in the August 7, 1987 issue of Science a

AGRICULTURE The Transformation of International Agricultural Research and Development. J. Lin Compton, ed. Westview: October, 260 pp, $19.85. Assesses the influence of experiment stations on agricultural research and development and the effectiveness of their research. Includes discussions of the role of women in research and development, the role of research and extension services and the linking of traditional and modern agricultural knowledge. ANTHROPOLOGY Almost Human: A Journey Into th

COSMIC JOY AND LOCAL PAIN Musings of a Mystic Scientist. Harold J. Morowitz. Charles Scribner’s Sons, New York, 1987. 321 pp. $18.95. Harold Morowitz is a distinguished Yale biophysicist and former master of Pierson College. He is also the author of two charming collections of essays: The Wine of Life and Mayonnaise and the Origin of Life. Morowitz spent his last sabbatical on a yacht docked off the West Maui mountains in Hawaii. In that yacht he produced a book that is wise, thoughtf

ADVANCING MATERIALS RESEARCH Peter A. Psaras and H. Dale Langford, eds. National Academy Press, Washington, DC, 1987. 408 pp. $47.50. This enlightening book is destined to survive the test of time as a historical record of a momentous pe- riod of change. Its wide-ranging articles represent views of distinguished leaders in the interdisciplinary field of materials science. Conceived primarily in commemoration of the 25th anniversary of the Interdisciplinary Laboratory/Materials Research Labo

THE COLLECTED PAPERS OF ALBERT EINSTEIN Volume I: The Early Years, 1879-1902. John Stachel, ed. Princeton University Press, Princeton, NJ, 1987. German-language volume: 433 pp. $52.50 HB. English translation: 196 pp. $22.50 PB (can only be purchased with German volume). Microfiche: $10. The publication of the first volume of the long-awaited, long-delayed Einstein papers is a most welcome event. And if this first volume is a taste of things to come, the complete set will represent a most im

THE DEVELOPMENT OF AMERICAN PHYSIOLOGY Scientific Medicine in the Nineteenth Century. W. Bruce Fye. The Johns Hopkins University Press, Baltimore, 1987. 308 pp. $35. The centennial of the American Physiological Society in 1987 has stimulated the publication of several books, some that were in preparation independently and others engendered specifically by the occasion. This excellent volume tracing the origins of the scientific approach to medical training and practice falls into the forme

A WORLD BEYOND HEALING The Prologue and Aftermath of Nuclear War. Nicholas Wade. W.W. Norton & Co., New York, 1987.190 pp. $15.95. The title suggests a description of the post-nuclear world, but this book has a much more ambitious purpose: . to present a concise and impartial account of nuclear war—how a nuclear war might start; what nuclear weapons do to people, cities, and the natural environment; and what the chances are of economic and ecological recovery in the aftermath of a nucl

BIOLOGICAL METAPHOR AND CLADISTIC CLASSIFICATION An Interdisciplinary Perspective. Henry M. Hoenigswald and Linda F. Wiener, eds. University of Pennsylvania Press, Philadelphia, 1987. 286 pp. $25. It isn’t often that an analytical technique developed recently by scientists is found to have been in common use for decades or even centuries within the humanities. This symposium volume deals with one such case, which strikes parallels between current methods of phylogenetic analysis in bio

BIOLOGY Annual Review of Phytopathology. R James Cook, ed. Annual Reviews: September, 460 pp, $31. A collection of original scientific papers that cover all aspects of phytopathology; includes “Historical Perspectives,” “Development of Concepts,” and “Biological and Cultural Control.” Crows of the World. Second Edition. Derek Goodwin. Univ. of Washington Press: September 25, 300 pp, $45. Discusses all aspects of crows including their appearance, biology, b

DINOSAURS, MAMMOTHS AND CAVEMEN The Art of Charles R. Knight. Sylvia Czerkas, curator. Exhibit at Smithsonian Institution’s National Museum of Natural History, Washington, DC, June-August 1987. DINOSAURS, PAST AND PRESENT Sylvia Czerkas, curator. Exhibit at Smithsonian Institution’s National Museum of Natural History, Washington, DC, June-August 1987. What impact has dinosaur art had on the public’s understanding of dinosaurs? Scientists have been aware of remains of gi

MOLECULAR EVOLUTIONARY GENETICS Masatoshi Nei. Columbia University Press, New York, 1987. 512 pp. $50. Recent developments in molecular biology mean that now it is possible to decipher genetic messages of parts of the genome from almost any organism. In the past, molecular biologists tended to assume that determination of the sequence of a single copy of a given gene for a given species provided sufficient information to speak meaningfully about the DNA sequence of the gene. Now there is inc

SUPERCOMPUTERS AND THEIR USE Christopher Lazou. Oxford University Press, New York, 1987. 227 pp. $45. Computers have been assisting experimental and theoretical scientific investigations for several decades. Recently a new phenomenon has emerged, under the banner of supercomputers. The true distinguishing characteristic of supercomputers is their power to model accurately phenomena of the real world that have been inaccessible to either experimental or theoretical science. Supercomputing (per

THE SUPERCOMPUTER ERA Sidney Kann and Noms Parker Smith. Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, Cambridge, MA, 1987. 313 pp. $19.95. Supercomputers are not new. They have been in existence since the invention of computers. Today, however, they have become indispensable tools at the cutting edge of science and technology. They enable scientists to solve problems and develop new technologies for tomorrow’s industry, affecting national employment patterns, wealth and national security. Until recent

SCI-TECH SELLING Selling Scientific and Technical Products and Services. Michael P. Wynne. Prentice-Hall, Englewood Cliffs, NJ, 1987. 250 pp. $24.95. This catchy title refers to a broad range of scientific and industrial products and services, and the book is aimed at the people who sell them. Michael Wynne, an interna- tional management consultant, offers advice on the various stages of the sales process: making contacts, identifying and offering solutions to customers’ problems, clos

Developmental Time, Cultural Space: Studies In Psychogeography. Howard F. Stein. University of Oklahoma Press: September 18,252 pp, $21.95. Explores the human tendency to project internal issues onto the natural and social environment. Discusses this both through observations of migrants’ responses to new life in America and intergroup conflicts between Russia and Western Europe and the U.S. PHYSICS Energy In Physics, War and Peace. Hans Mark and Lowell Wood, eds. Balaban: September, 40